Personal ramblings of Elizabeth Andrews Fae artist and author of 'Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles,' 'Faerie Flora'and the 'The Lavender Witch' all available from
www.magic-myth-legend.co.uk and Amazon

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Excerpt from The Lavender Witch

The Lavender Witch is a chilling ghost story based on the strange but true events surrounding the death of Hannah Beamish, accused of being a witch by a wealthy farmer in the small remote village where she lived in the early 1800's.One hundred and seventy years later these strange events, only now remembered by a few, come to light when Kitty and Gordon move back to the Devon village where they were born. They buy an old orchard from a neighbouring farm and build a small house, all is fine until they move in.Over the course of their first week in the house chilling apparitions appear and events spiral out of control bringing the past and present together until the shocking truth emerges as to what really happened to Hannah.

They walked slowly along
the drive to the lane; time had passed since they had driven up to Orchard
Cottage and it was now dark, the night sky was filled with winking stars and
high up on Castle Hill a fox barked.

‘Right, down to Sybil’s
Gordon,’ Queenie said firmly.

‘No,’ he replied sharply.
‘That’s it! We’re out of here; we’re not getting involved in any more of this.’

‘Now let’s calm down a
minute, I want to know what’s going on and what my grandfather has to do with
this.’ The old man had stopped and stood in front of them determined to get an
answer.

‘This is a story that
shouldn’t be told in a dark lane William,’ said Sybil taking hold of his arm
and pulling him towards the village.

‘Well let’s go into the
farmhouse then,’ he said impatiently. ‘It’s closer.’

‘No,’ Kitty put in weakly.
‘Not in there, sorry,’ she apologised to the old man. ‘But you see it’s his
house.’

‘Kitty is right we
shouldn’t set foot in there.’ Queenie warned. ‘Sybil’s cottage will do. Come along.’

She led the way along the darkened lane until
they came close to the entrance of the farmyard. She slowed to a halt, from
across the paved yard came the sound of approaching footsteps, footsteps that
Kitty immediately recognised.

Queenie nodded in
recognition. ‘Yes Kitty it is,’ she said quietly. She raised her voice ‘Well Robert?
What are you going to do now eh?’

William glanced at her
quickly before returning his gaze to the entrance of the yard.

A dark shape slid into the
shadows of the wall, and as they watched it gathered itself together pulling in
the darkness of the night and becoming more solid.

A figure walked slowly out from the shelter of
the wall and stood in the middle of the lane and raised his head. Dark sunken
eyes stared across the intervening space between him and his grandson.

‘Oh my God!’ whispered
William in horror. ‘It is him.’

The old man staggered back
and would have fallen if Gordon hadn’t grabbed his arm to steady him.

‘William, are you
alright?’ Sybil whispered to him urgently gripping his other arm to support
him.

‘What in God’s name is
this? He’s dead!’ William’s voice echoed around the lane making the apparitions
face wince.

Queenie took a few paces forward
and peered at the shade of Robert Beamish.

‘So that’s it! William is
the key,’ she said triumphantly. She turned back quickly to the others. ‘Back
to the house, all of you.’

‘Are
you mad woman? We’re not going back in there,’ Gordon shouted at her.

He stared at the figure in the lane and
watched in horror as it approached slowly towards them.

Queenie pulled Kitty back
towards the house. ‘You have no choice now, he’s not going to stop. He’ll come
after Kitty where ever she is.’

‘You don’t know that,’ he
shot at her.

‘Look at him!’ Queenie
shouted at him. ‘He is on the road! This road doesn’t belong to the Beamish
family, it never has done. He’s not on his own soil!’

They backed slowly away
down the lane to the entrance of the drive, William last of all. He stood
frozen to the spot staring at his grandfather’s form approaching along the
road.

Sybil pulled at his arm.
‘Come on William,’ she shouted at him.

‘I thought I had forgotten
him,’ he whispered. ‘But one look at his face and it has all come back.’

Clouds drifted across the
night sky casting even darker shadows onto the road but the shadow of Robert
Beamish was darker still as he paced slowly forward; the regular thump of the
stick hitting the tarmac echoing off the buildings.

The Lavender Witch is available on Amazon, Kindle and Paperback, also on www.magic-myth-legend.co.uk

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About Me

Hi I am a artist and author Elizabeth Andrews, and I love all things Faerie. My work can be found at www.magic-myth-legend.co.uk where if you wish you can purchase cards and prints of all things magical from Faerie to Mermaids and even Dragons!
This interest has become an obsession over the last ten year resulting in a fully illustrated book detailing Faerie and Folklore around the British Isles. I hope that if you, like me, are a 'Faerie nut' that you will enjoy this blog as I comment on any faerie activity around the British Isles. However I do find myself adding more and more quirky items on folkLore so I apologise but I find them so fascinating and funny!!